numbers

nearing forty-seven

and I realize

been holdin’ on to fifteen

‘til my neck tensed

and arm stiffed

why? because I never had it

and thirty-two years of days,

hours, minutes, seconds

have got behind me

suddenly

they are gone

gone

and I am left to wonder

did I do them right?

“I don’t know how to say what I feel” ~ One More Day, One More Night, Tom Petty Echo CD

she drifts

Nine years since

Valhalla sought

Ragnorok near the sea;

a wall ever high;

she skirts the shore

drifting low amidst

the rotted reef,

free but to do nigh.

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" ~ Kris Kristofferson, "Bobby McGee"

American Dream

When did bone-weary

become the American way?

When did simply working two jobs

paying bills, saving for retirement

and having some good times along the way

at no one else’s expense…

When did this stop being the American Dream?

passed into ether

Once, we were young
we three

and the world was less in us

than we were in it

mucking about, we dreamt fire
and fought ferociously

we grew, digressed

broke bones, pulled sinew

joints required for walking
birthed

crashed

shattered hearts

found our place
along the peripheral
betwixt hours

in those lost days
when once, we were young

and I mourned
mourn still,
as you pass into ether

any which way but loose

in the fleeting of a moment
of a breath

in the crevice of a parsec

you arrive, just there

when-where I need you

parched lips wetted

I am filled

belly-full with fire

yup

uncomplicated

lack of possession

lack of expectation

joy of words

joy of moments

unconditional,

I am free to care

tenderness

in profile, you were

standing in a stream of light

late morning, gazing out

I wanted to ask…where was your mind?

(your mind sends me…places);

linoleum cool, a short step to you

your flesh and grasp sparking

what I thought I’d lost

breathless, I was left

with a fleeting moment of you

and smiles to last for days